Gal5:22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23nonviolence and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

It is a great irony to me that the greatest example we have in modern times of someone who did act on Christ’s advice, did not claim to be a Christian. We need a lot more people who will experiment with the nonviolent revolution of swaraj or self-rule, like Gandhi

It’s interesting to note that Christ and his disciples used organic images to describe how the ‘power of the Spirit’ – the secret of swaraj or self-rule – actually operates in our lives. Self-management is de­scribed as the ‘fruit of the Spirit’. (Galatians 5:22) The capacity to manage ourselves develops quite unobtrusively – indeed, as quietly as fruit growing on a tree. The capacity to manage ourselves may develop unobtrusively, but is far more significant than we might ordinarily imagine. Like a minute seed, so small we can scarcely see it, that seems like it could never amount to anything great, the ‘power of the Spirit’ seems embarrassingly insignificant to begin with, yet grows into a capacity that is of tremendous significance in the end. (Matthew 13:31–32) The capacity to control our own lives does not develop without opposition, but like a plant growing in the midst of weeds, ‘the power of the Spirit’ grows strong in an environment that could easily destroy it. (Matthew 13:24–30) How the seeds of transformation, that bear the ‘fruit of the Spirit’, grow in a community always was, and always will be, a mystery. (Mark 4:26–29) However, it is no secret that the seeds of transformation that bear the ‘fruit of the Spirit’ will not grow in a community if those of us, whose lives constitute those seeds, do not bury ourselves in the life of our community. ‘Unless a seed falls into the ground and dies it produces nothing, but if it dies it will produce much fruit, that brings much life to others.’ (John 12:24)